Whistler bronze sets Rudman up for World Cup title tilt in Calgary

Friday, 3 February 2012

By Mike Rowbottom

February 3 - Britain's Shelley Rudman claimed bronze at the Skeleton Bobsleigh World Cup in Whistler to give herself an improved chance of earning the World Cup title when the final event takes place in Calgary next week.

In what was the seventh of the eight World Cup rounds, Britain's 2006 Olympic silver medalist Rudman closed the distance between herself and the current leader of the rankings, Germany's Marion Thees, to just seven points.

Thees could only manage fifth place on the day in an event wnon by Canada's Melissa Hollingsworth from Australia's Lucy Chaffer.

"Today's result has allowed me to close the gap between myself and Marion a little more," said the 30-year-old from Pewsey, Wiltshire, the 2006 Olympic silver medallist.

"It's now down to next week's race in Calgary to see which of us can claim the overall World Cup crown.

"I find this track really difficult and it doesn't seem to suit my style of driving, so I've had to work really hard this week piecing everything together in the hope that it would all click on the race day...which fortunately it did.

"I was really pleased with my starts too, which are improving race by race.

"A big thank you to my family, Bromley for their sled support, Mark Campbell my sprint coach, Kay my physio and the British team for their help this week."

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Fact of the day

Hulking Swedish actor Dolph Lundgren is best known to movie fans for his role in the film Rocky IV in 1985. For the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta he was selected by the United States Olympic Committee as the team leader of the American modern pentathlon team. Though he attended the Games and marched with the US delegation in the Opening Ceremony, his role was largely honorary. It was bestowed on Lundgren as a result of the time he spent training with the team in preparation for his role in the film Pentathlon, where he starred as an East German Olympic gold medalist on the run from an abusive coach played by David Soul. As a result of the time he spent with the team, Lundgren became a major supporter of the campaign to keep modern pentathlon on the Olympic programme.

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